Art of milling and conditioning flour from wheat.



L. M. THOMAS. ART OF MILLING AND CONDITIONING FLOUR FROM WHEAT. APPLICATION FILED JULY 2. 1908.

1,010,202. Patented Nov. 28, 1911.

WITNESS! INVENTOR I r 17. am/MA. Q. r 74%;; WgW fi UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUCIEN MARCEL THOMAS, OF STRASSBURG, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR T0 HENRY SIMDN LTD., 013' MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

ART OF MILLING AND CONDITIONING FLOUR FROM W'HEATv Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 2. 190B.

Patented Nov. 28, 1911. Serial No. 441,649.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that l, Locum Manon-L 'luonns, a subject of the Emperor of Gcrmany, residing at Alter Weinnmrkt, Strassburg, in the German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Milling and Conditioning Flour from \Vheat, of which the lolh'iwing' is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the art of n'iilling and conditioning flour from wheat.

The troubles known as sweating and pastingaip of bolting silks, etc.. in a mill, are in large measure due to inadequate exhaust. When the miller attempts to employ a stronger exhaust on his rolls, centrifngals, etc, an additional loss of the moisture is incurred. This loss of moisture and corresponding loss in weight are due to the unavoidal'ile. drying of the material by the action of the exhausters and the heat generated during the process of milling. This loss is a substantial one. amounting some-f time. to over 2 per rent; it varies Widely and in irregular fashion. according to cor tain indeterminate factors which cannot easily be controlled by the miller, such for example as the atmospheric temperature. The weight ot' flour produced by the mill from a given weight of wheat iluctuates eor respondin zly.

()no object of the n'esent invention is to counteract the drawbacks attendant upon the use of a strong exhaust by introdiu-ina Water into the fully milled llour insuch a manner that the same is uniformly permeated by the added water.

Further my invention by enabling the use of a stronger exhaust. renders an increase in the capacity of the scalping and dressing machines and rollers and consequently in the out-put; of the mill possible without any economic loss either in respect: of evaporation of Water or quality of products. The miller is also enabled to supply flour the composition of which will not vary from clay to day and which will not give erratic results in the hands of the baker.

Another object ofthe invention is to condition the flour, that is, to improve its baking properties. I have found by extensive experiments that thettour from a large number of difi'erent sorts of wheat and Wheat 'mixtan'es is improved in its baking properties by my n-oeess. and I believe that nearly all. if not all. sorts of Wheaten flour can be so improved. It is easy to ascertain by a. test on-a small scale whether any given flour is capable of being improved in this respect by the process.

The in vcntion consists in I'HIHRllIg the fully milled flour through an apparatus in which it is agitated and in its passage subjected to the action of a current of moistened air or other suitable moistened gas. the rate oi" delivery of which. and the ln'lmiditv of which. relatively to the moisture in the floor. are such that the proportion of water in the flour is, on simply passing through the apparatus, increased by 0.1 per cent. or more. according to requirements. The naq'mrtion of Water in the treated flour must not be in excess of that compatible with goml nun chantable flour.

\Vhile for obvious reasons it is most convenient to use air as the medium for con veying Water vapor to the flour. other gases may be substituted for air. or be present in the air, provided they have no deleterious action on the flour.

A suitable method for obtaining! a moisturedaden gas which will act in convenient quantities promptly upon the-flour consists in passing a current of air tlilfltlflll heated pipes and leading" the heated air through a. chamber in which water is being; sprayed. Preferably the air is substantially saturated with water vapor in order that the required quantity of water maxi be imparted to the flour Wllhtmt; heating it unduly.

The temperature of the moistened air brought into contactwith the Hour must not; be so high that itdamages the latter. I have obtained successful results even by using hater-saturated air at a temperature of 88--t 0 (I: but it must be observed that when such a high temperature is used the. proportion of water vapor in the air is so considerable, and the tendency for condensation to occur is so great. that lamps are apt to be formed in the flour, unless we I cautions are taken to prevent the slightest cooling of the moist gas prior to its coming into contact with the flour.

There does not appear to be any advantage the moist air is insured. The rise, if any,

in the temperature of the flour during the operation over its temperature as it comes from the mill should not-exceed about 30 C.

The method of carrying the invention into practice which I prefer consists in passing air through heated pipes so that it attains a temperature of about 100-120 C. and then through a chamber into which water 7 having a temperature of 45 C..-is being sprayed.' The substantially saturated air,

havin now a temperature of about 50 C. an being substantially free from spray or drops of water, is led into a. worm-conveyer through which the flour is passing continuously with vigorous agitation, and

the spent air is drawn 011' at the other end of the machine bymeans of an exhauster. The flour and moistened air are led through the machine at such a rate that the former takes up about 0.6 partor more by weight of Water er 100 parts of flour and its tem= perature is raised about 10 C.

I have observed an appreciable'improvcment in baking properties with an increment of 0.1 part by weight per 100 parts of flour but better results are obtained ulien the in crement amounts to 0.6 per cent. or more.

While the process is intended primarily to be applied to flour as it comes fresh from the mill, I do not limit myself to such aplication, for I have found that flour which has been milled some time previously may also be improved in baking qualities by means of 'my process.

It will be understood that the apparatus for applying the process need not be in the same building as the mill.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood I append to this specification a diagram representing an apparatus suitable 'for applying the invention.

The fan a blows air through double-cone chamber 9 in which are situated a number of pipes b traversed by steam. Theheated air passes from the chamber 7 into a second chamber 0 wherein is a spraying nozzle 8 fed with water through a pipe 77 and with air through a pipe 1, both air and Water be-.

ing' supplied from a tank (2 in which air is pumped by pump (Z to maintain a suitable pressure. From the chamber 0 the moistened air passes into a well-known form of worm to into the casing of which flour is fed throu h chute b. and from which the flour'is dc ivered through chntef. It being preferable that the pressure in the worm casing should be kept below that of the atmosphere; the casing is connected with a suction fan, the air being delivered from this fall through a filter dust collector l. Having thus described the nature of my said invention and the best means I know of carrying the same into practical eiiect. I claim 7 In the art of milling flour, the improvement whichsconsists in moistening air with water v por, agitating the flour initially at normal emperature while in the orescnce of a current. of 'thc moistened air having a temperature sufficiently low to provide for the desired lDCP'flSO in moisture content and to prevent any rise in temperature of the flour of'more than 15 (7., and allowing, the added moisture to remain in the tlour, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LUCIEN MARCEL THOMAS.

\Vitnesses CARL W. ScHMIT'r, M. BAUMAN, Jr. 

